SUNRISE, Fla.— Tim Thomas is a two-time Vezina Trophy winner whose last NHL victory was nearly 18 months ago. Ilya Bryzgalov is getting $23 million from the Philadelphia Flyers to play for someone else.

And the Florida Panthers have an interest in both.

With a clear need for depth and experience in net, the Panthers are waiting to hear if either Thomas or Bryzgalov will be willing to come to training camp in Florida. The Panthers will go into camp with Jacob Markstrom as the frontrunner for the starting job, after an offseason where Jose Theodore became a free agent and Scott Clemmensen had arthoscopic knee surgery.

"They're veteran guys that have won and we're looking at everything," Panthers general manager Dale Tallon said Wednesday after confirming he "inquired" about the availability of Thomas and Bryzgalov, who are both looking for jobs. "We're not in a position not to look at anything and we want to get better. It's important that we investigate every possible scenario to make our team better."

The Panthers finished last season with an NHL-worst 15 victories. Even with an abbreviated 48-game schedule, they still were 19 points away from the eighth and final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference.

Tallon said he would prefer knowing "sooner than later" on whether Thomas or Bryzgalov will be Florida-bound. Thomas helped the Bruins win the 2011 Stanley Cup, finishing that title off with a shutout win in Game 7 of the finals at Vancouver. He won 35 games for the Bruins the following year, then made the surprising decision to sit out last season.

Thomas — chosen as the league's top goalie in 2009 and again in 2011 — will turn 40 in April, and is believed to be looking for a starting job somewhere in the NHL.

"I certainly don't want to sign a goalie that says he wants to be a backup," Tallon said. "I want somebody who wants to be the guy."

Philadelphia Flyers goalie Ilya Bryzgalov in a game against the New Jersey Devils April 18, 2013. The Devils won 3-0.(Photo: Eric Hartline, USA TODAY Sports)

Bryzgalov made perhaps as much news in Philadelphia because of his colorful off-ice personality than he did with his play in the Flyers' net. Philadelphia missed the playoffs last season, then made the decision to buy out Bryzgalov, who had signed a nine-year $51 million deal that the Flyers ultimately decribed as a "costly mistake."

"Obviously, Marky's our goalie," Tallon said. "But if something happens … we want to make sure we have people in position to fill in and play well and allow us to win when we are banged up."